Corrupted
by Purplemoon-on-the-rise
Summary: In a parallel timeline to Breath of the Wild link was captured by the Calamity's forces, instead of going into the chamber of resurection, and was augmented to bend to it's will. But, thanks to Zelda, he broke throgh his conditioning and escaped to a different timeline where the hero was indeed sealed in the chamber. Can link help this hero succseed were he failed?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was the end. But they'd tried so hard, and yet, here they were surrounded by Guardians! Link was giving it his all, driving back Guardians tooth and nail as zelda shot volley after volley at the Calamity hovering over them. She'd shoot and It would roar and snort and fly out of range, and then fly back and terrorize them. Link was having a hard time too, every time he beat back one Guardian, **another** one would burst in and have its turn shooting at him!

Well, two can play at that game! For everything they threw at him link could parry, block, or throw something else right back at them. But one can only maintain such ferocity for so long, and link was starting to tire. That didn't stop him from taking out dozens of Guardians however.

Zelda looked like she was on her last legs too. She was slowing down, breathing heavey after each arrow. She was so exhausted that she was getting sloppy. She was trying so hard to target the Calamity that she didn't notice the Guardian that was targeting her! Thank the goddess that link did!

Just as the shot left the guardian's eye, link jumped in front of zelda and attempted to parry the shot. He managed to keep most of the explosion from hitting her, but only because he took the brunt of the blow. It sent him flying into a crowd of guardians waiting in the wings just have a piece of him.

Link knew he was done for, he knew it as one guardian wrapped a tentacle around his left leg. he was certain of it as another one wrapped around his right leg. This was followed by one to his right arm, then one to his left. All this happened so quickly that link couldn't do anything to save himself, and to top it all off they've started pulling!

'Oh Hylia's hips that hurts' thought link, as the pulling reached it's peak. Link was in so much pain he started to black out. The last thing he remembered was scanning the battlefield trying to make sure zelda had gotten away. He couldn't find her but that didn't mean they'd gotten her either. He could die happy at least, so long as he focused on that chance that she'd gotten away…

\- - - - -

So dark. Ohhhhh… so much pain. The fact that he was alive was a welcome surprise, But, Where was he?

He tried to get up, to check his surrounding, but he was strapped fast to a table! 'what's going on! Where, who, what…?!' Link squirmed and wriggled trying to get out from his confines.

Somehow during his struggles, link failed to notice the sudden appearance of a small red light. It's possible it was motion sensitive, or was monitoring his vitals, but the more he moved the more of them lit up and joined that small he finally stopped, it was because he'd noticed how many of them there were. They didn't provide much light, but they sure were ominous … and blinking.

And blinking?

'No no no, why are they blinking!? Nothing good **ever** happens when things are blinking!' thought link as he redoubled his efforts to get away. But the lights kept blinking faster and faster, soon reaching a crescendo of red, blinking, menacing lights. This did nothing to soothe link's frantic struggle.

He might have ended up hurting himself severely if it weren't for a sudden pinch on the back of his neck. 'W-what?', and suddenly he couldn't move. And when he stopped so did the blinking. 'Now wha- "Aghhhh!" Link screamed as he felt something rip into his arm, "Nnghhh.", it was digging now…

"Aghhhh-nnghh!" he screamed as something else bit into his leg. Both areas felt like they were on fire and there was an uncanny feeling of something digging or burrowing through his flesh too. But then. 'I can't feel them…I CAN'T FEEL Them! WHY can't I feel them?' and then he started twitching and shivering violently. He couldn't feel his leg or his arm below where they'd been cut into. Their sudden absence scared him a lot more than their earlier pain had. He just wished whatever was causing this would stop!

But whatever it was that had him, it wasn't through with him yet…

Suddenly link noticed a red light bigger than the rest coming from the ceiling towards his face. Then It stopped less than a foot from his face.

WHIRZZZZ~ : And then it started moving again With blades, or something, extended.

Closer and closer, it's red eye growing from the size of an acorn to the size of a hydromelon. And all the while link can't move, can't even scream. All he can hear is: WHIRZZZZZZZzzzz~


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

How had they found her? Two months, and not even the faintest of hint that they'd been tracking her, but now here they were hot on her trail with nowhere left for her to run. Sure, she had her sacred bow, but how was she going to fight off an entire company of Guardians? Unlike link, she definitely wasn't a one woman army… and there were so many of them, what if she couldn't make it? 'Then they'd get me **too…** just like link.'

Link… It it felt too soon to count him among the fallen, but there was no denying that he _was_ gone. 'But maybe, maybe he wasn't gone...?' said a small voice inside. But no, she couldn't entertain such thoughts right now. "You just need to face it, he's gone, just like everyone else!" zelda told herself sternly as she tried to stay ahead of the Guardians. But that is a feat easier said than done.

They were closing in on her, she could feel it, and it wasn't all that hard to tell. Zelda knew that if they got too close she would hear this rift of piano notes, and sure enough, there they'd be. But they weren't going to get that close to her; at least, not without a fight. 'And if that's what it comes too then it's going to be on **MY** terms!' She thought as she turned around to face the coming company of Guardians.

Notching an arrow, she counted ten maybe twelve of them and…something else riding one, something small? 'What is that, a bokoblin? I can't tell… they're too far away.' whatever it was,zelda was sure it was bad news. In Fact, the whole company was bad news, and was coming up on her fast.

Fast was right, no sooner had she come to this realization then they were all within range! Ready for them, zelda let fly two arrows right into the nearest Guardian's eye. It buckled and was soon trampled by the rest of the company as they surged forward and locked onto zelda.

Well she was locked onto them too. One of nine, two of, three of, NO four of nine guardians down! She felled them left and right, decimating their numbers, when suddenly, IT decided to step in. That thing riding the Guardian earlier; It launched itself from it's ride, straight into the middle of the action!

When It landed It created a small cloud of dust which hid it pretty well, so well that all zelda could see of it was two glowing blue were asymmetrically set so it looked as if one orbited the other, much like how the moon orbits earth. Both eyes were similar to a Guardian's singular eye in make but they were also relatively smaller in size. The two eyes were also set at a height relative to that of a human's eye level; this IT was a someone not a something.

'But who?' zelda thought, as she trained her bow on the remaining Guardians and the figure. She didn't get to finish that train of thought though, as the figure started Its attack.

Its speed was blinding: in a flash It was gone. It had leapt high over her and brought forth Its weapon, what looked like a gun built into Its arm, mid-flight and aimed it at her before she could even react.

The gun, more like _CANNON_ , flowed smoothly into the arm and reached its end where the hand should be. Like all Sheikah tech, it was made of a smooth pottery-like material with raised whirls and curls that glowed with an unnatural light colored, in this case, reddish-pink. At its tip, the muzzle glowed a harsh blue as it charged up it's attack.

'Oh no you don't!' panicked zelda, as she let loose an arrow at the figure. It parried the shot with a glowing bolt from Its arm. A bolt that met the arrow mid-flight and blew it up! 'Did IT seriously just do that!?', Zelda was shocked, 'I've only ever seen **Link** do something like **that** …'

But as shocked as she was that didn't stop her jaw from dropping farther when wind blew in.

It rustled the cloak the figure wore, enough to dislodge it's hood and throw the cape open a bit. Zelda spotted a familiar shade of blue under that cape, and as the figure pulled Its hood back up, she saw pointed ears.

'N-now that can't be right! No one wears that color but the royal family… or those closest to us…'. Thusly confused, zelda didn't pay much attention to the remaining company of Guardians. This inattention let one sneak up on her, or at least it would have if she hadn't heard the warning rift and moved out of the way. Unfortunately, she only ended up moving from the frying pan and into flames, as her dodge took her right into the figure's arms.

Feeling around to see what she'd backed into, zelda thought, 'Hmmm… this _feels_ like link…'. However, 'Doesn't look much like him though…' she thought as she looked up to see two bright Guardian-esque eyes look down at her with malice.

'Well, I can't just let _This_ happen…', "Excuse me, you can let go **now**!" she said, sending a pulse of Holy energy thru him so he'd let go. " _ **Aack!**_ ", he grunted, as he fell to the ground.

Seeing how effective that was, zelda started eyeing the rest of the company of Guardians. "Would anyone else like some?" she dared them, seeing them back off in warrieness. "No? Well that a shame really-" she paused, gathering more energy. "- Because I have plenty for **all of** **you!** " she announced as she sent out a huge wave of holy energy!

The wave quickly caught and encompassed the entire company of Guardians, shutting them down and purging their system's of the Calamity's taint. It also caught link too, purging his system of taint, but not shutting him down.

No, instead of shutdown, link was supercharged and started to glow with a solid blue light. He then started to unwind in coded strands, floating up through a portal that couldn't be seen.

' _ **Now**_ what have I done?' zelda thought, as she watched him go once more.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Far away, and a long time from when they left, the blue coded ropes that had made up Link coalesced together again and spat him back out somewhere entirely new. It was still Hyrule and there was still a Calamity, but some of the who's, what's, and when's had changed.

One hundred years had passed since the Calamity, or this timeline's equivalent of it, had happened. The princess in this timeline had not gotten away either. And the Hero? Nobody Knows…

But our Link , who is as of yet still unconscious, was mostly ok. Well, minus the Mechanization and being flung into a parallel timeline. But that was ok none the less. Anyways…

Link had been spat out on the doorstep of a temple. This temple had once been a very lovely site. People had prayed here, gotten married here, and had their funerals here too. And all of that love, life, and worship had all happened under the watchful stone eyes of the Hylia statue that now sat centerplace amidst the ruins.

The temple was indeed a sad site today. Sure its roof still stood and it still had at least three of its four walls, but everything else had been swallowed by nature. The only artifact in this husk left untouched was the Hylia statue. It went untouched, some say, because the only weathering it would ever stand would be by worshipful hands.

So Link , all laid out over the entrance, was still asleep. 'Well we can't have that now can we?' The statue seemed to say. 'Liiinnnk~ , Link , wake up hon~' it whispered in his ear. "Nhhh…" moaned a sleepy Link , as he rolled over some. 'Come on now, wake up Link .' it tried. "Mmmm…" he rolled over some more, he was on the threshold now. 'Honey, Ah said wake up!' Link ignored the summons and went to roll over again, except: "Ohpp!", he fell right into the temple door. 'Hmm, that's what Ah thought' said the Hylia statue with her all knowing smile.

Thoroughly awake now, Link looked around for the owner of the voice he'd heard. "where-" began Link , 'Back here hon, Ah'm back here.' answered the statue. "Okay?" puzzled Link , as he made for the Hylia statue at the back of the temple. 'Ah'm glad you're awake there honey, cause Ah need to tell ya something.' it began, 'Now Link honey, this ain't Your Hyrule, alright? This here is uh different one, ok?' "um, okay…?"

'Now, it is very similar to Yours: it has uh princess, it has uh Calamity, and it has uh Hero-' "because I'm here?" 'No hon, it already has one but he is sleeping right now'. "So then why am I here if they already have a hero?" asked Link . 'Because, He's not gonna know a thing about being a hero when he wakes up, so he's gonna need your help remembering.' was the statue's reply. "But how can I do that?"

'By teachn' him!' "but I don't know how to be a hero! I wasn't even a good guar-" 'Don't you even finish that sentence hon, it's not your fault He got you!' "What do you-" 'Plus your Zelda is alive and free thanks to you! So don't you go telln' me no stories about not known' how to be uh hero!'

"She's Alive!? I didn't know… I mean I thought… and, I didn't see her body but .." Sputtered Link , he was so relieved, and yet so confused that he was on the verge of crying.

'shhh~, it's ok honey,' the statue soothed, 'she's safe and that's all that matters.' .

"Right, so I'm needed here to help this hero?" Link summarized, trying to move conversation from Zelda and to the problem at hand. 'That's right hon.' it affirmed. "All right then! So, when does he wake up?" 'Soon honey, soon. But right now we got one more thing to talk about…'

"Like what?" Link asked, not quite sure where this was going…

'Well sugar, for starters, Ah've been blocking the external stimulus comin' from some of your new Augmentations' "what?-" 'and Ah'm bout to stop, so Ah figured Ah'd give ya uh warnn' about that before they fully came online' " Augmentation what do you mean-" 'If ya look over there, in that there puddle, you'll see what Ah mean hon.'

"Uh… Ok?" he said, as he walked over to the indicated puddle. As he knelt down next to it, he noticed a blue glow upon the puddle, it shown in the general direction he was facing. 'Something behind me..?' he thought, looking over his shoulder to find the source. But there wasn't anything that could be its source in that direction. 'Is it in the puddle?', he wondered, as he bent over to look in it.

"OH!-"

The glow was coming from his EYES!

"I-is this what you meant?!" said Link , staring at his asymmetrical orbs, pale as a sheet. 'Mm-hm, but there's more…' the statue hinted. 'MORE?' Link 's mismatched eyes bugged, "W-what else?" he shuddered. 'Your left arm and right leg, too…' the Hylia statue confessed. 'How did I not notice?' Link wondered, frightened by his own lack of perception. 'Honey, Ah told you Ah was blocking all the new stimulus from those areas.' said the statue, 'Ah just didn't want you to freak out on me while Ah tried to give you important information. You weren't ready yet honey.' .

"Oh, but now that you've said your piece, NOW I'm ready?" said Link, fear placing blame in his tone. 'Ah was tryin' ease you into it hon…but obviously you aren't ready..' "How could I have been ready? I can't even remember what happened to me between getting here and being captured by Guardians! That screams 'I'm not ready' !" fumed Link. 'Well what would you have me do? Ah can't block out those new sensations forever!' replied the statute.

. . .

"hmph, what should I do while I wait for the Hero?" Link sulkily asked. 'Go master your new abilities, He'll find you when he gets up.' .


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

… _Open your eyes_ …

 _Open your eyes_ …

… _Open your eyes_ …

' _ **Wake up Link**_ ', A voice pleaded.

To be honest he was trying very hard to, but those stupid lights just weren't coming into focus. Ugh, and the air is freezing… 'Where'd that lovely blanket I had go to…?' Link wondered as his "Lovely blanket" drained from his pod.

'Whelp, better see what they want' he thought as he tried to sit up. He then swung his legs over the side of the pod only to have the world start spinning. "Ohpp!" 'Too much, too fast…' he figured so he sat there a moment to get it to stop.

When it finally stopped, he was free to take stock of the room. He really didn't get what the room was all about but it was at least non threatening. 'But geez! why is it so blue and futuristic-y in here?'. Oh well, at least that was the _only_ thing that bothered him. 'Let's see here: pod, pedestal, door…' door? 'Yo! A door!' excited, he slid off the side of the pod and padded to the door. It was closed.

"Oh well, doors are meant to be opened. Don't worry, I'll find a way." he said to no one really.

With that, he began analyzing every bit of the door within his reach, looking for a way to open it. There didn't appear to be manual way of opening it from this side however. So Link decided to step back to see if the door was a part of some bigger puzzle. 'Well, no obvious targets or eyes… maybe I have to push or pull something?' he reasoned, trying to draw from experience or something. It wasn't working.

"You're right, there really isn't all that much in there… What's up with that?" again reacting to something not apparent to anyone else.

'Eh, whatever. When in doubt use common sense!' so he tried assessing the situation to see if he'd missed something obvious. There was the pedestal he noticed earlier, the one next to the door… it wasn't that easy was it?

'If it is then I'll eat my HAT! I do have a hat, right?' thought Link as he turned around to interact with the pedestal.

"Let's see here…" he said, examining the top of the pedestal. He noticed there was a rectangular device embedded into the top, it looked like it could be removed. 'I wonder if this has anything to do with it?' he thought as he picked it up. ' _That is a_ _ **Sheikah Slate**_ _.'_ came the voice from earlier, ' _Take it. It will guide you after your long slumber.'_. "Oh, err thanks? Does it open doors?".

Almost as if to answer that question the door broke into strips and slid up into the top of the doorframe. Neat.

Link approached the door ready for the next room, the Sheikah Slate in hand. As he scanned the slightly larger space, he noticed some old chests and another pedestal similar to the last one. 'So, Chests first or pedestal first?' he deliberated, finally settling on chests first.

'Please be an item. Please be an item. Please be an item…' he hoped. It was a new set of Old Clothes instead. "Aww, why couldn't it have been an Item?" he said, oblivious of his own partial nudity. "Yeah yeah, I'll take them anyway…" he stated, getting the point.

Anyways, now clothed, Link decided to check out the pedestal in this room. It was also placed by a door, much like the first one. But unlike the last one it did not hold a Sheikah Slate. 'I wonder if it works the same way' Link thought, so he held it over the pedestal.

Just like the last one, the door split into strips and slid up into the doorframe. Behind this door was a blinding light.

' _Link…'_ began the voice, ' _You are the light- our light- that must shine upon Hyrule once again. Now, go…'_ and with that it was gone Link's eyes adjusted, he could finally see that through the door was a way out. So, cautiously, he made his way outside…

"Woah…"

… And was amazed at what he saw:

There were trees, and mountains, and a big beautiful blue sky! Everywhere he looked Link saw nature: just lush and lovely and free. It was a sight that words cannot do justice, especially for someone seeing it for the first time. It took his breath away.

"You can say that again…" he commented. There was just so much to take in, so much that he nearly missed spotting the figure down the hill from him. The figure wore a long tattered cloak that hid most of them from view, everything but their eyes. Those strange glowing eyes.

"Hey! Hey you?!" Link yelled at the figure, "Hey, do you know what's going on?". The figure turned to go, so Link decided to follow them, or at least he tried to. Unfortunately, Link quickly lost the figure in all the trees. "Hey, where'd you go?" he called out, hoping for an answer. But he got none: the figure was already long gone.

 **Author's Note: Hi, Purplemoon here. This is the first time I've left an Author's Note so I'm just going to be brief. I want to thank 2Zetalgnis (did I spell that right?) for their two reviews. The fact that they reviewed at all made my day and kept me going to write these. What I'm trying to say is, I love it when people decide to review my stories, and that I'd like to hear from more of you (and I know there are a lot of you...). So please review, I don't care if it's just to say 'Hi', I want to hear what you guys think! -PM**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

" _He'll find you when he gets up…"_ she had said, 'well he found me, so now what?' Link wondered, spying on the other hero from his perch. 'I mean do i just swoop down there and introduce myself or do I passively watch and observe?' he pondered, tracking him with his beta eye as he got farther away. 'And if I do go down there how do I explain my "Enhancements" to him?' thought Link, still rather self conscious about his Gaurdian eyes.

In the two months since his talk with the Hylia statue Link had spent every day trying to conquer his new abilities. For example, he found out that his smaller eye, or his "Beta eye" as he thought of it, couldn't see fine details nor colores. However, it could see objects very far away and on several different spectrums. The bigger "Alpha eye" on the other hand, could see exceptionally small details from afar plus track things moving at high speeds.

Naturally, both were extremely hard to use at first, not to mention impossible to use at the same time. No, even just trying to see _**normal**_ took Link the better half of those two months to perfect, and that was just the tip of the eye-ceberg!

Really the only thing that hadn't take forever to learn to use was how to use his leg. Thank the goddess _**That**_ had at least been simple... because everything else sure as hell hadn't been.

for example: learning how to retract the muzzle of his arm-gun back into a hand. Or at least something like a hand; 'Hey, it might have only had three fingers on it but it still passed!'. And even that ability took almost as long to learn as relearning sight. In addition, he also learned that he could make a bow with that hand too. "Which is great and all, but I still have to relearn how to _**aim**_ before I'll even be able to use it!" Link groused.

So clearly, Link's problems laid mostly in how slowly this progress had come. And it continued to frustrate him still, especially with how long it was taking; not to mention now that the other hero was awake...

"I mean seriously! How am I going to help anyone when I can't even shoot straight?" he muttered, jumping from his current tree to the next. " and I still don't think that I'm the best candidate for this either…".

Link frowned, while he'd been digressing the other hero had slipped away. "OH COME ON!" he exclaimed, "How the Dark world do you lose something blue in a sea of green!?". Especially if said blue is the same shade you've spent months training to identify and protect…

" Hmm, I don't know..." came a reply from behind him.

'What tha-' Link thought, trying to spin around to face the source, only to fall out of the tree face first. Recovering quickly, he moved to get up only to find a boot firmly planted in the small of his back. "Nhhh ~" he squirms, only for a little more pressure to be added. "... maybe you can start with remembering that I'm not wearing blue…" continued the boot's owner, "and with telling me what the hell is going on?".

'Heh, "needs help" my ass… who was she kidding, he's got this under control…' Link thought, smirking under his hood. "Yo, I asked you a question: 'whats going?' !" the other hero restated.

'Hmmm, how should I start… hello I'm you from a different timeline, or: hey, I had Guardian parts shoved into my head and now I'm here to teach you how to be a hero?' Link mused from underneath his hood. 'oh or maybe I can-' "Time's up, answer please!" interrupted the other hero, yanking Link up into a impossibly painful yoga position.

"Ummph~ , Hylia's Hips that hurts! Geez, do you always brutalize strangers while you question them?" Link joked, trying to turn the situation around.

"Nah, I only save this for shady lowlives like you." the other one quipped, turning it back around.

" 'Shady'? What on earth gave you that idea?" countered Link. "Oh, I don't know… maybe because you're wearing a cloak in broad daylight, or ya got glowy blue eyes, or maybe because you were stalking me from a tree? Hey, If that ain't shady I'm not sure what is!" replied the other hero. "Okay, I'll give you that one. But do you need to practically snap my spine in half just to ask me a question?" .

"well, um, no… not really" he considered, "but I really don't trust you, so I think you're just gonna have to stay like that for now.".

"Wait, so this whole thing has only been a matter of trust? I mean really, that's it?" said Link, shocked and a bit insulted by his reasoning.

"Well yeah, what else would it have been?" he replied innocently.

"Well I don't know, maybe because you thought I was a threat or something?" Link casually postulated, hoping to gage the hero's view on him.

"A threat? Seriously?" he chuckled, "Heh… Nah, at most you're just shady. I'd hardly call you a threat or anything.".

'wow… you know what? I take back everything I said. He couldn't even tell a threat if it jumped up and screamed "Hey, Listen!" at him. He's just not ready…' Link concluded with a sigh.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Link wasn't sure what to do with the Hooded figure now that he'd caught him. Yeah by the way it was a him. You know. Just saying. 'Nah duh, it was obvious the minute he started talking… I mean it's not as if I expected a lady or something…' Link scoffed.

Anyways, disembodied female voices aside, he couldn't just stand here forever holding this guy down! "So are you gonna like, answer my question or what?" Link asked his captive innocently. "I don't know, are you going to let me up?" the Hooded figure snarked. "Hmm, I don't know…" Link drawled, pondering whether to chance it or not, "You really don't seem like someone I can let my guard down around.".

"uhg! Look" the figure began, "not that this isn't flattering and all, but this is neither the time nor the place for me to answer that question! It's getting dark and I have shelter for the night. So why don't you just get off of me so we can just-"

"Eh, nope."interrupted Link.

"what?"

"I said I didn't trust you, what part of 'let me up and I'll take you to my house' did you think was going to convince me? Like I said before, you are incredibly shady, and nothing short of divine intervention will change my opinion on that!" Link finished, slightly out of breath.

' _And you're certain of that sugar?_ ' came a voice in his head. "W-whose there?!" Link Sputtered in surprise. ' _Divine intervention sugar,'_ the voice answered sweetly. "W-what? For real? L-like no joke, really?" he asked in bewilderment. ' _Yes sugar, for real. As in no jokes.'_ it giggled. "Oh" Link blushed.

' _Yes, so anywho sugar, could you do uh favor for me?_ '

" um, like what ma'am?" he said.

' _Could you please let him up? You're holding up the plot shug…'_

"Oh uh, of course" Link blushed again as he removed his foot from the figure's back. "Hmp, about time" the figure grumbled as he dusted himself off. ' _Thank you sugar.'_ Link blushed again ' _Oh, and Link honey, can you please take off that ridiculous hood? Ah have uh feeln' that's what started this mess.'._ "Yes ma'am…" the Hooded figure sighed, much to Link's confusion, as the figure reluctantly pushed back his hood.

Link was by far not ready for he saw next.

'It's like looking a mirror.' Link marveled. Under his hood, the figure wore his honey-blond hair in a ponytail. He wore blue hoops in his ears and he shared Link's general features, up until the eyes.

'Oh goddesses, those eyes!'

Those strange, glowing, asymmetrical, blue eyes. The skin around them seemed discolored, kinda like a burn or fresh scar tissue. If anything, it told him they were new.

"Hey, quit staring. It's not polite.." his doppelganger said, snapping Link back to reality. "Oh! Uh, um… uh sorry ….uh I didn't… I mean I wasn't…" Link Sputtered, bouncing back and forth between the doppelganger's eyes.

"Oh my Goddesses! Will you just pick one or something!?"

"Ok! Ok!" Link blurted out, hastily averting his gaze altogether. "uhgg, you see what happened?" His doppelganger moaned, "this is exactly what I wore that 'ridiculous hood' for!" he said, drawing the hood back up dramatically. ' _Oh honey don't be like that, you're too old to act that way!'_ the voice chided at him. "Yeah but he was staring…" the doppelganger pouted childishly. ' _But you know it don't need to be like that… right sugar?'_

"Oh uh, yeah of course…" Link Sputtered remembering that he was a part of this conversation.

"Hmph, whatever. Can we finish this up elsewhere? I wasn't kidding about it getting dark!".


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Outside of log cabin on the edge of a forest of birch-like trees, two Links sat down around a cook fire to try and get to know each other. This wasn't a bad idea by any means: after all, food often brings people together in awkward situations, right?

Not that this is a awkward situation or anything…

"Who are you kidding?" piped up one Link, "it couldn't get more awkward than this!" he exclaimed to no one at all. "what are you talking about?" Said the other Link as he placed a large cooking pot over the fire. " Nothing" said the first link, denying that anything had been said at all. The Link by the pot just shrugged, if the other guy said it was nothing then who was he to judge… so he let the matter go.

They sat there in silence: one tending the pot and the other sitting on the log beside it.

"So, um, you said something about an explanation earlier… is that still gonna happen or um…" the log Link wondered aloud, not trying to ask but still asking.

" uh, let me finish this first-" he paused to turn over a fish, "-then we'll talk." he said, finishing the sentence and adding some mushrooms to the pot.

"Oh. Ok…" said the other link, letting the silence reestablishing itself.

The logs under the pot shifted a little and the crickets started chirping.

" So…" he said, trying to think of a conversation starter, "... How long was I in there?".

"Hmmm… I don't know. " said the Link by the pot, unsure of how to answer. He peeked at the mushrooms and then finally he said: " She didn't tell me. She only said you were asleep…". And with that he moved the pot off the fire and set it on a nearby stump to cool.

" Huh….What do you mean by 'She'? Do you mean the voice we heard ?" asked the Link on the log.

" Yeah, Hylia…she's the one we talked to. " replied the other Link as he took out some plates to serve on. He carefully placed a fish on each plate and then added some mushrooms to them. He handed a plate to the Link on the log and then sat down beside him.

"Thanks." said log Link to pot Link. "You know," said log Link addressing someone unseen by pot Link " You can't keep calling us weird things like ' pot Link' or 'log Link'." he pointed out. "What do you mean?" Link said to him, " Nobody has said anything like that.".

"Exactly!" he said to Link, and then continued to nobody: " But you can't continue to call us both Link any more. It's getting confusing."

Well then how should I continue?

"Give me a second" he said to no one, and then turned to Link. "Dude, we need nicknames!" he whispered. "Wait, what?-" "it's getting too confusing to call us both 'Link'" he clarified "so we need nicknames.".

Link stared at him thinking he'd lost his mind.

" I think you overslept a little" he told him, "because you're starting to show side effects or something. ".

Link face-plamed.

" You know what" he said to nobody, " I think only he needs a nickname.". He gave him a smirk, " I think we should call him ' G Link' or something like that".

G Link frowned. "what does the 'G' stand for?" he asked eyeing him coldly, evidently not happy with the new name.

"Uhh, you know… um, stuff…" link said, trying not to look him in either eye. "You know, maybe that was uncalled for." He said sheepishly under his breath; to his companion he said "Hey, why don't we just skip to the part where you tell me what I've missed?".

"Hmp, whatever, let's just move on." … .. .

. .. … "and so, from what I could get her tell me, they took you to the Shrine of Resurrection and you've been in there healing ever since." and with that G link ended the tale.

"Wow, so exactly how long has 'Ever since' been?" Link asked him nervously, perhaps a little afraid of the answer.

"Well she didn't really give me a specific length of time, but I'd say maybe a hundred years…" he answered mumbling the last bit.

"Sorry, I don't think I caught that right. One hundred years?" link asked incredulously. "T-that's a really long time for a nap don't you think?" he joked, hoping G link was joking too.

"That's what she told me" he replied in all seriousness, " and from the state you were in I'd say it was just the right amount." he added gravely.

Both were very quiet the rest of the night.

The next morning link woke up early to try his hand at making breakfast. First, he went about gathering ingredients from the woods near the cabin. He found a clutch of bird eggs in the branches of one tree and found some Stamello mushrooms by the roots of another. On his way back to the cabin he spotted a strange rock formation with something weird sticking out of it. Curious, he slid down the hill to investigate.

It was a pile of large boulders with a gape in them just big enough for him to wriggle through. Inside was a platform made of the same strange technology as the shrine he'd awoke in. It too had a pedestal with a Sheikah Slate-sized indent in it.

'So do I try it now or get Link and _then_ try it?' he mused, weighing both options pros and cons.

In the end he decided to go ahead and try it and if it didn't work _then_ he'd go get Link.

"Ok so I just fit this" _Click_ "in here and… Op! there it goes!"

The slate's screen flashed on and he could read the words ' _Sheikah Slate authenticated'_.

Suddenly the platform and pedestal both lit up in blue and the ground started to rumble. Birds flew everywhere and the shaking got so bad it knocked all the boulders of the platform.

All the vibrations hitting the platform knocked link off his feet and onto his back knocking all the air out of him. He was stunned. His head ached. He couldn't catch his breath. And he couldn't possibly move.

Also, he was sure nobody knew where he was.

"So in short-" **Gasp!** "- I'm screwed."

 **A.N.**

 **Hi, purple moon here, sorry there hasn't been a chapter in a while. I finally have time to update more now though, so expect more to be on the way.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Oh goddesses above! When was the last time he felt like this? Warm, half-asleep, and gently rocked back and forth… not for a very long time at least… no, he hadn't felt so safe in a long time.

And yet, something was up, Link was sure of it…

Vaguely certain something was up, but… 'This is just _too_ nice of a feeling to ruin with waking up' he thought sleepily, just content to focus on the rocking motion instead. Why was it getting so rough?

 **CRASH!**

Link practically jumped about a foot into the air, going from shallow sleep to full alert in 60 seconds flat. The room was shaking and jittering, things were falling from shelves, and the windowpanes were about to rattle right out of the windows! But, just when he thought the rumbling couldn't possibly get any stronger, it all suddenly stopped.

As he scanned the room, checking it through every option available to his enhanced vision, he found what had woke him. A small brown earthenware pot had fallen from the shelf next to his bed durn the tremur. Unfortunately it had broken and spilled its contents, which consisted of fifty-five green rupees, all over the cabin's dirt floor.

'Why on earth had I thought this was a good place for these?' he wondered as he scooped them up into his wallet. He tied it securely and then stood up to place it back in his bag. As he looked up he notice the blankets from the futon he'd made up last night for the other link were strewn about. His pitiful little brown shoes were gone too, and the door was wide open…

"Idiot !" he growled, running to the door, hoping to catch the trail before he got too far from the cabin.

He didn't have to look far.

One sweeping pan to his right showed him something he'd not seen on the horizon before today. A tall, slender tower of sheikah origin glowed bright blue against a new background filled with similar towers in orange inactive light.

If that didn't scream "Likely location" link didn't know what would.

Using the capabilities of both eyes in concert, he quickly zoomed in on the distant tower and its surroundings, marking its location on his mental map. Satisfied he'd be able to find it in a pinch, he turned around and went back to the cabin to gather some supplies. While there he grabbed his bag, a large sturdy pot lid, his quiver, an axe, some rope that he was sure wasn't rotten, and his black travel hood. All geared up and ready, he set out at a steady jog for the tower.

He arrived at the tower's base a half hour later.

As he stood there, sizing up the distance to the top, he realized that the best way up would be to climb. However, he'd have to leave most of his gear here at the bottom because it was too heavy to carry all of it with him.

So he took the rope, just in case, and started to climb.

It wasn't too hard, in fact he made great time. When he got there he immediately saw Link passed out on the ground and the sheikah slate on the pedestal. He tried place what had happened but couldn't manage to piece together anything into a reasonable answer. 'Oh well, I'll just ask him later…' he decided, as he scooped up the fallen hero into a fireman's carry.

He was just about to go, when he remembered the slate was still on the pedestal. "Uhg! Come on…" he muttered realizing his mistake, link was placed to precariously for him to try and reach for the slate. He needed a plan of action. After about ten minutes deliberation, he decided to take link down first and then come back to get it.

"Alright" he said turning to the closest hole above an overhang, "let's get a move on.". Bracing himself, he jumped down onto the platform, taking most of the shock with his enhanced foot so as not to jostle his cargo. Checking that everything was alright, he headed down the rest of them, hopping from one platform down to the other.

On the ground, he set link down by his discarded equipment then turned to go back up the tower for the slate.

Ascending quickly, he reached the top and headed towards the slate's pedestal. When he was standing in front of it, he reached out to take the slate but it shocked him! He reached out again and was once again shocked by the pedestal. Suddenly the slate flashed on, and in a warning-red color it said: ' _Warning! Unidentified Tech! Please Remove From terminal!'_. Seeing the warning, he decided not to press his luck by try a third time. So he left the Sheikah Slate where it was.

He climbed back down the tower. Picked up his gear and link. And the left for the cabin.

 **please leave a comment/review- P.M.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

' _So it just started flashing red huh? An' ya said it shocked ya when ya reached for it?'_ asked the puzzled Hylia Statue in her slightly accented mental-voice. "Yes, yes, and for the hundredth time: yes!" He replied, frustrated by her bewilderment and roundabout questioning. 'Geez,' thought link as he rubbed his temples, 'how many questions does an omniscient being need to ask?'. ' _As many as ah feel is necessary hon.'_ Hylia said, unintentionally proving his point valid.

Regardless, he decided that it was better to just answer her questions than it was to continue arguing with her. So he picked a dry-ish spot on the dew laden grass and sat down. He'd been answering questions since he'd came back from bringing link to the cabin, and he was getting tired of it! It was about time he got to ask some questions,"So what do you think is going on? Do you have any theories?".

' _Ah have a few, maybe…'_ she said trailing off, "Like what?" he finally got to ask. ' _well maybe just three: one, it might be that it has something to do with your augments. Two, maybe it's because you're technically from a different timeline. Or even possibly three, something was wrong with the terminal.'_ she posed.

"What would be wrong with my augments?" he asked with worry.

' _Oh it could be anything hon, residual dark energy or corupti-'_ "nope, nope, just no! Can't be that. Ehh,I mean, not that!" link nervously interrupted, ' _\- or perhaps you missed an update…?'_ she finished, suspiciously annoyed that he had interrupted.

But before she could further question his outburst, he asked her: "What's an update?". ' _Never mind'_ she sighed, ' _They're only theories after all…'._

"Oh well, I'm sure we'll figure it out later." he said getting up to go.

' _Ah'f course.'_ she replied, indicating he'd been dismissed.

… … … …

"Ngh!" he grunted as he came back to consciousness, 'Ahggg my head~ it feels like a dodongo stepped on it~' he silently bemoaned. When he went to sit up that caused a different pain to flare in his chest, 'oh I just can't win today, can I?' he internally snarked. Based on this, he decided that he should do a little experimenting with his movement, just to see what would hurt less. Thankfully, after many attempts, he found that he could carefully turn on his side without any undue amounts of pain.

From on his side he could better see his surroundings, very quickly it dawned on him that he'd been moved. He was now back at the cabin instead of still outside on that weird tower. For that, he was thankful to whomever had brought him back here. It was much more comfortable here as opposed to out there on the cold pottery-esque floor. 'I mean, i'm on a comfy bed with blankets and everything and there's just this bedside table that's juuuust within reach… yeah, am I lucky or what?'.

Beside him, on that juuuust within reach table, were a handful of healing potions and a note from g-link. He decided to check them out so he reached over and snagged the note and the first of the bottles of potion.

The note said, in super shaky letters: ' _hey idiot! Next time you decide to go exploring just tell me, ok? You're super lucky I had all these on me. Go ahead and take one or two if I'm not back by the time you get this. It might take me a while and i'd like to go back to that tower when you're better. I think you might want to too.'_

"psh, yeah. _Thanks_ man, I'm _sooooo_ going to tell you from now on…" he chuckled as he set the note back on the table. G-link's protectiveness was unfounded, he could take care of himself just fine! 'however' he conceded as another burst of pain shot through his side, 'I might accept the help just this once.'. So he opened one of the bottles and took a nice long drink.

It was awful.

Hopefully that meant they were helpful, but in reality it just meant that they weren't exactly potent enough. Instead it took him two more bottles and another hour's rest before he felt well enough to get out of bed. After that, when he was sure he wouldn't fall over, he decided to look around for his bag.

Hopefully it still had everything still in it from that morning because he was starving. If not then maybe he could at least use the time to take a better look at the sheikah slate whilst he waited on g-link. He'd had the slate for all of maybe twelve hours, It was about time he got to really study it.

However, it seemed the universe had other plans. He was rummaging around when suddenly a thought struck him: he had placed the slate on that pedestal in the tower, right? But the thing was, had he remembered to remove it? Indeed had anyone remembered to?

And then another one hit him, the note had said: " _i'd like to go back to that tower when you're better. I think you might want to too."_.

'it's still there' he realized.

Well that was just great, wasn't it?

… … … … …

On the northern edge of the great plateau, a lonely sheikah tower glowed blue against a sea of it's orange colored brethren. They'd all only been above ground for maybe a day or two, but unlike them, this tower had already had three visitors! Or maybe there'd been only two.

The tower couldn't decide.

As far as it knew, no two people could be as similar to one another as it's first two visitors had been. To the tower this suggested a glitch maybe, or at least a corruption of its sensors. Perhaps, it had been down there for too long?

Oh well, the tower didn't care, it had done its job and that was all that mattered. The shrines and towers had risen, the area had been mapped, and the slate plus all its knowledge had been passed on. All was well the tower felt.


End file.
